Dependable C

Summary

Why a Dependable C? Dependable C, is an attempt to document a subset of C for developers who want to write Dependable C. C23, and the upcoming C2Y are language versions that have become increasingly complex, include many new keywords, flow control, and a revised Charter that differs from "Classic C". Later versions of C are also only supported by 2 implementations out of the hundreds of C implementations available. The Delta between ANSI C and C2Y is arguably larger than the Delta between ANSI C and the first version of C++. This means that for developers who want to develop, widely portable, and compilable, software in Classic C, the latest ISO C standards are a poor guide. Reading earlier versions of standards is also not sufficient, since they do not include lists of features that have since been deprecated, or any guide as to what parts of the standard have had poor implementation support. Dependable C is trying to fill this gap. The Universal storage of computing instructions. C is the most portable and widely implemented language available. C has been called the Lingua-franca of computing. A problem solved in C will remain solved for the foreseeable future. Changes in operating systems, computing environments, or hardware are unlikely to render a well written C implementation obsolete. A library written in C will be able to be used from almost any language. While many programmers don't use, many can read and understand C. This mean that code written in C can be modified by a larger pool of programmers. If quality is the measure of longevity, C is a prime candidate for writing high quality code. Not all C code is portable, or will compile the same in all compilers, or can even be understood by most C programmers. C has a long history of quirks, and corner cases that can be hard to navigate. Writing non-portable code that is only intended to run on one platform and be built with a particular tool chain is perfectly legitimate, but if you want to write code that ...